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Aquila Black
Aquila Walburga Black (born 4 Nov 1980) is the fourth child and only daughter of purebloods Orion Arcturus Black and his wife, Walburga Irma Black (married 10 Sep 1958). As of 1 September, 1992, she is only legitimate heiress to her parents’ fortune, since her two brothers have passed away. Her oldest brother by blood was disowned in the Summer of 1976, four years before her birth. Aquila was born in November in Islington, London, England, and has lived there since then. Biography Early life (1980s) Aquila was born on 4 November, 1980, in the Islington borough of London, England, to Orion Black and Walburga Black, both of whom were Dark Wizards and second cousins. At the time, the Blacks had only one other child, Altair, born in January 1980, in their effort to replace both sons they had lost- Regulus, who perished after turning against Voldemort in early 1979 by attempting to destroy his horcruxes- and Sirius, their firstborn, whom they disowned upon the night that he ran away in the summer of 1976. Aquila and her brother Altair were born out of the necessity to have a male heir, to carry on the family name, as well as further grow their fortune. "Aquila" is a traditional Black family name, following a tradition of naming children after stars, constellations, and galaxies. The names Cygnus, Sirius, Arcturus, ''and ''Regulus ''have all occurred at least twice, however, the name ''Aquila ''is relatively rarer, perhaps due to the hope that Altair and Aquila would provide somewhat of a new beginning. The Black family believed strongly in pure-blood elitism. They refused to consort with muggles, muggle-borns, and blood-traitors and even disowned family members, such as Aquila's great uncle Marius Black, and insisted that their family members only marry within respectable pure-blood classes; because of these beliefs, they were forced to marry their own cousins. They also held the Dark Arts in reverence. Aquila grew up believing in the pure-blood mantra that her parents were so insistent on, and never questioned that it might be wrong until she got to school. In August of 1991, Aquila's brother, Altair, also known as “Tarry,” turned out to be a squib, and passed away under mysterious circumstances. It was the summer that, had he not been a squib, that he would have attended Hogwarts. Following Altair’s death, Aquila’s parents came up with a plan that would ensure that the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would continue to survive, even if it cannot, in the direct male line. In the Autumn of 1991, Orion and Walburga Black arranged for their daughter to marry Draco Malfoy, Aquila’s first cousin once removed, and for any potential issue to come out of the union to bear the surname “Black-Malfoy” or “Malfoy-Black,” which for some time was still being decided on by both the Blacks as well as Lucius Malfoy, the Head of the House of Malfoy. In their childhoods, Aquila and her cousin Draco enjoyed supporting the Falmouth Falcons and attending Quidditch games together. After Altair's death and murder, Aquila's father, Orion, fell deeper than he ever had before into a spiral of guilt and self-destruction, and she rarely saw him. He was eventually found dead in his study, hanging from the rafters, on Christmas Eve, 1991. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, who were visiting with their son Draco, who had just arrived home from his first term at school, were the ones to find his body. Aquila was eleven years old when her father died and ten years old when she lost her brother, Tarry. Draco and Aquila were kept out of the room while the Ministry got involved, and Walburga herself was witnessed by a Ministry employee, Edalbert Crimble, yelling at her dead husband and screaming about his selfishness. Orion did not leave a will. After the death of her husband, Walburga became prone to psychotic rages, and frightened Aquila so much that she begged to come live with Narcissa Malfoy, which she did. During that time, Walburga was alone, but Aquila returned to her mother by at least the spring of 1992, the spring before she was to receive her Hogwarts letter. Hogwarts years (1990s) Aquila, by the time she had reached the age of eleven, had not had a happy childhood. At ten, she lost her brother, Tarry, and grappled with it for the remaining year she had at home, while her cousin Draco was off at Hogwarts. In that year alone, she came to despise and somewhat fear her parents. Her father, Orion, committed suicide about four months after the death of her brother Tarry, and although the world may truly never know why he did it, Orion too, must have been feeling the guilt following such a rash decision. Her Hogwarts letter was received with not so much celebration as it was a threat by her mother, to do the family proud, as she was one of the last standing members. Aquila was accompanied by her mother to Diagon Alley in the summer of 1992 when indeed, her Hogwarts letter arrived. Walburga left her daughter at Gringotts while she visited the vaults, but returned knowing that Aquila had snuck away. Aquila met Ginny Weasley there, who was accompanied by her father, Arthur Weasley, who was employed at the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Walburga was extremely cross that Aquila had supposedly snuck away from Gringotts, and personally insulted the Weasleys when Arthur was within earshot. Arthur, having learnt his lesson after his brawl with Lucius Malfoy, decided not to engage. That was one of the last times Aquila's mother was seen in public. She was in mourning for the rest of her life, and never wore any other colour except black. She did offer Aquila some parting advice when it became time to get on the train: she was reminded of Regulus, her and Tarry's childhood hero, and instructed to become a credit to Slytherin House- however, that did not happen. First year She was sorted into Gryffindor House upon entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, on 1 September 1992. She was a certified hatstall, much like her brother, Regulus Black, although he went to Slytherin in the end. In the months that followed, Aquila continued to become increasingly at odds with the family that raised her. She also became aware of the brother of which her parents kept hidden from her, Sirius Black, who was arrested and placed in Azkaban Prison in the North Sea on 1 November, 1981, following the deaths of twelve muggles and one Peter Pettigrew. She made friends with the girls in her dormitory, Ginny Weasley, Maisie Cattermole, as well as Matilda Corner. She came to know other students as well: Ophelia Brown, Molly Roper, and Colin Creevey. She eventually developed a rivalry with a boy named Peter Goyle as well as a tentative friendship with two Ravenclaws- first cousins Marnie Hargrave and Bertram Aubrey Jr., who proved themselves as relatively quiet, and reliable study partners. The Chamber of Secrets Mystery On the night of Hallowe'en, a message was painted on the wall by the girl's bathroom on the fifth floor, signifying that "''The Chamber of Secrets has been opened," ''and ''"Enemies of the Heir Beware." ''The school's caretaker, Argus Filch, also found the body of his cat, Mrs. Norris, who was petrified. The Professors decided that the Professor of Herbology, Professor Pomona Sprout, would use her crop of mandrakes to revive the cat when they were fully mature. This occurrence left all students with a sense of dread and worry, as many believed that the writing on the wall was just the beginning. Aquila read up on the legend which she had always known to be a bedtime story- that Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School, after an argument with the three others, had supposedly created a hidden chamber to house a monster that would purge the school of muggle-borns before leaving the school forever. According to the legend, the Chamber could only be opened by Slytherin's true Heir, and Aquila quickly threw herself into genealogy in order to find out who it was- some students in her own house had other ideas (including brewing illegal polyjuice potion to talk to her cousin Draco) but Aquila quickly found that it was very difficult to find who the last Heir would have been- the last fully documented descendants of Salazar Slytherin, excluding all others who had made a claim but being otherwise unable to prove it, were the Gaunt family of Little Hangleton, Yorkshire, and they had all died out. During the month it took to research the Gaunt family, a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin took place. Aquila's cousin, Draco Malfoy, had been made Slytherin's Seeker, on the merit of his father's generous contributions to the team: a set of Nimbus 2001 brooms. Aquila watched him lose and then got back to work. Aquila, along with her friends, Maisie Cattermole, Ophelia Brown, and Ginny Weasley, all joined a Duelling Club: but to their dismay it was run by Professor Snape and Professor Lockhart, some of the school's worst teachers. The event was scheduled to take place in the Great Hall. During the club's first meeting Lockhart demonstrated his ineptitude. He was successfully disarmed by Snape and floundered throughout the entire practice duel. Also during a practice battle during the first meeting, Aquila's cousin Draco conjured a snake in an effort to mess with his partner, Harry Potter, who revealed himself to be a parselmouth in front of the entire Great Hall. Since Aquila could not understand it, her and all the other students assumed that he had been egging the snake on, and encouraging it to attack a muggle-born student in the year above- Justin Finch-Fletchley. Parseltongue is a very rare gift that Salazar Slytherin was always famous for, and Aquila saw this as a clue. She dived into Harry Potter's family tree only to discover that it was seemingly ordinary- her friends became amused when she discovered that she and Harry Potter were second cousins once removed. Aquila and her friend Ginny signed up to stay at Christmas, because Ginny's brother Ron was staying as well with his friends, as well as her two other brothers, Fred and George. Aquila's cousin Draco was staying as well, with his friends Crabbe and Goyle. Aquila was surprised to discover that her other friend, Maisie Cattermole, would be staying at the castle, too, despite having always been mysteriously disappearing once a month. She had expected that Maisie would have wanted to be at home with her sick mother. That Christmas, Aquila had put two-in-two together- that Maisie's disappearances were ''not because she was visiting her sick mother, and that all of her symptoms coincided to being a werewolf. Aquila kept it quiet for two weeks before she could tell Maisie what she knew, and told Maisie in early January, once she had gotten over the initial shock. Maisie begged Aquila not to tell anyone, and Aquila promised that she wouldn't. Aquila immediately started researching lycanthropy and what might combat it: she found initial research of a Potion that had been developed in the summer of 1991 which seemed promising, however, it was expensive and looked extremely difficult to brew. It also hadn't been fully tested yet- and the research paper, written by Damocles Belby, only listed its ingredients, not how to brew it. Aquila then found another option which seemed more promising- while studying animagi in Transfiguration (the lesson only consisted of a short demonstration provided by Professor McGonagall to cheer students up due to the many muggle-born attacks), Aquila asked many theoretical questions that stretched the demonstration to an actual lesson, on 1 February, she made the decision that she would attempt to become an animagus to keep Maisie company on full moons. She started her preliminary research the next day, and stole a single Mandrake leaf from the greenhouses- an operation that had to be completed with caution, as Professor Sprout had placed a security troll around Greenhouse Five, which had been completely emptied to support Mandrake growths. As the year went on, the attacks on muggle-borns became more and more frequent: Mrs. Norris, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, as well as the Gryffindor house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, were all petrified. Those that followed them was a fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater, and a second-year Gryffindor, Hermione Granger. All the while Aquila noticed that her new friend Ginny was becoming more moody and withdrawn. Around March, they had a fight and it left both of them in tears. One day in late May, the Heir of Slytherin left another message right below the first one, on the fifth floor, which said that "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." Aquila went back to the dormitory when she was told, but it was then that she realized that Ginny was missing. She went off on her own to the staffroom to find out more, taking cover in a cabinet. It was there that she found Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, who had found out what the monster was and how it was getting around the school. When she found out that it was her best friend that was taken by the monster, Aquila at first didn't know what to think. And then it slowly began to hit her- that what could be happening to Ginny could be the same thing that happened to her brother Tarry- Ginny could be dying. She eventually convinced Harry and Ron to let her join them. They went their dormitories feeling utterly useless, however, as they were quickly forced back into their common room by a lockdown announcement. They later left Gryffindor Tower when Harry had an epiphany- that if the monster was a basilisk and it used the plumbing to get around (and the last time that the Chamber was opened, a girl died), then the Chamber entrance must be in the toilet that Myrtle Warren haunted. Aquila then followed Harry and Ron to Lockhart's office, where they planned to tell him what they knew, because the teachers had left him to deal with the monster. They found him panicking and packing all of this things away, and planning to leave the school. Lockhart eventually admitted to them that he was a fraud and had been placing memory charms on those he interviewed for his stories. He then attempted to put a memory charm on Aquila, Harry, and Ron, as well. The three of them managed to disarm him, however, and under the threat of their wands, forced him to accompany them to Myrtle Warren's bathroom. When there, Harry asked Myrtle how she died, a story which she was happy to tell. She stated that the last thing she saw was a great pair of yellow eyes by one of the sinks. The sink, incidentally, also had a tap that never worked. They all came to the conclusion that the tap could be opened by Harry's voice, if he spoke parseltongue. Harry then found the carving of a small snake on the tap and found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Aquila, Harry, Ron, and Lockhart slid down a large pipe and found themselves in a maze of tunnels under the school. Down there, they encountered a snake skin left by a basilisk. Just then, Lockhart feigned fainting and stole Ron's wand. Victoriously proclaiming that he would erase all three of their memories and tell everyone that they lost their sanity at the sight of Ginny's mangled body, Lockhart attempted a spell, which soon backfired. It ended up erasing Lockhart's memory and partially caving the tunnel in. Aquila and Harry, who were on the side nearest to the next area, decided to go on together, leaving Ron to shift rocks on the other side so that when they found Ginny (if ''they found Ginny), they could all climb back through. They then encountered a wall with stone snakes on it, and Harry spoke parseltongue to open it. They then entered the Chamber itself. Inside, they found Ginny lying on the ground, pale and cold. Aquila ran over and tried to get a response from her, but to no avail. She had ended up dropping her wand, which the apparition of Tom Riddle soon picked up, and stood smiling at Harry and Aquila, while they tried desperately to revive Ginny. Riddle explained his presence and revealed that he was a memory, sealed inside a diary that he wrote in when he was in school- the diary, which Aquila had seen Ginny writing in all year. He then explained what happened. Riddle had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and planned to purge the school of all muggle-borns; however, when he learned that the school would have to close in response to the attacks, he had no choice but to cease the operation and frame a younger student for doing it- that student being Hagrid, the current groundskeeper. Not wanting to waste all the years he spent figuring out where the Chamber was and how to open it, he decided to preserve his sixteen-year-old self inside a diary so that if written in, it could tell another individual how to open it. It sounded suspiciously like soul magic to Aquila, who had spent a great deal studying it unwillingly during her childhood years at Grimmauld Place. It turned out that Ginny had been writing in the diary all year. Riddle had written back sympathetically, listening to her fears and anxieties, as Ginny grew to confess all of her hopes and feelings to him. He taunted Aquila with the bits and pieces he had found out from her and their little fight. But around this time, Ginny had also apparently grown suspicious of the diary and tried flushing it down Myrtle's toilet, and that was when Harry found it. When Ginny had seen Harry carrying it around on Valentine's Day, she panicked and stole it back, thinking that Riddle had spilled all of her secrets to him. It began taking control of her again, but this time with the intention of killing Harry, so Riddle forced her to write her own farewell on the wall and come down to the Chamber to wait, luring Harry to his doom. Riddle then asked why Harry was able to defeat Lord Voldemort as a baby. Harry asked why Riddle cared. Riddle replied that Voldemort was his past, present, and future. Aquila soon realised that this was more than just an apparition and prepared to take Ginny and run. As Riddle waved Aquila's own wand in the air, spelling "TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE" and rearranging the words so that they spelled "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT," he revealed that he was in fact, a half-blood, the son of a witch and a muggle. He told of how his mother named him Tom after his muggle father and Marvolo after his wizard grandfather, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, whom Aquila recognised to be a member of the House of Gaunt. Riddle then told them how he rearranged the letters of his name to create an infinitely better one- one that one day all wizards would fear to speak of. The name worthy of the greatest wizard to ever live. Harry retorted that Riddle must be mistaken, because the greatest wizard living was Albus Dumbledore. Aquila added that even when Voldemort was the height of his power, he continued to fear Dumbledore, and now he was barely alive. Riddle angrily answered that Dumbledore had been driven out of the castle by the mere memory of him. Harry yelled that Dumbledore was not gone as Riddle would truly believe. In this display of loyalty, he unknowingly summoned Fawkes the phoenix to him, who also brought with him the Sorting Hat, both assets that Riddle deemed useless. Riddle then summoned the basilisk and then ordered it to kill Harry. He first made an offer to Aquila to leave, as she was of a pure wizarding line, a Sacred and Noble House, and had done nothing but anger him. Aquila refused, and Harry and Aquila watched in horror as Fawkes, who was not as useless as one might think, pecked out the eyes of the basilisk, who was still trying to kill them. Harry, who still had his wand, tried to cast spells on it, but none of them were strong enough to actually hurt it. Aquila, realising that she had no other option, used wandless magic to attempt and suffocate the beast by cutting off its oxygen, but even she was too weak to hold a hundred foot long snake with just the force of her hands for long. Riddle became impressed and stopped the battle to question her parentage, at which point Aquila, bleeding from her nose, told him to sod off. He then set the snake on them again, but while they had their exchange, Harry had stuffed the Sorting Hat onto his head and prayed for a miracle. Instead, Harry got hit in the head with the hilt of a heavy sword imbedded with rubies, which he then used to take multiple swings at the blinded basilisk. After several misses, Harry plunged the sword into the roof of the snake's mouth, killing it. However, one of its poisonous fangs had sunken into his arm, promising a quick death. While Riddle gloated, Fawkes cried over the wound, instantly healing Harry. Harry then stabbed the diary three times with the Basilisk fang, unknowingly destroying one of Voldemort's horcruxes in the process, a cause for which Aquila's brother had died for. She had no idea, of course, and neither did Harry, but the thought was there. Ink began pouring out of the book and the memory of Riddle faded out of existence; Ginny immediately stirred and woke up, quite distraught. Aquila, Ginny, and Harry travelled back through the Chamber to find Ron and Lockhart, who had no idea when or who he was. Aquila, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart grabbed hold of Fawkes and flew out of the Chamber (another phoenix specialty). They arrived to find Dumbledore, McGonagall, Molly, and Arthur Weasley, who were delighted to see them alive. Aquila worried that Ginny would get blamed for being the person behind the attacks, but to her great relief, Dumbledore correctly deduced that Voldemort was indeed behind the attacks. After Ginny left with her parents to get some much-needed rest, Dumbledore asked Aquila to stay behind with Ron and Harry. He gave them three hundred points to Gryffindor and an Award for Special Services to the School. He then gave Ron Hagrid's release papers from Azkaban and spoke to Harry and Aquila one after the other in private. When Aquila expressed that she wasn't sure that she belonged in Gryffindor, Dumbledore chuckled for reasons she didn't quite understand, and told her the same advice he gave Harry. Lucius Malfoy barged into the Dumbledore's office, outraged at Dumbledore returning even though he'd been dismissed. Dumbledore calmly responded that it was the rest of the Board of Governors that requested him to return once they found out that Arthur Weasley's girl had been killed. Apparently, Aquila's godfather had been blackmailing the others with the threat of cursing their families. While they carried on their venomous exchange, it was revealed that Lucius had snuck Riddle's diary into Ginny's cauldron the day that they visited Diagon Alley, in an effort to get revenge on Arthur Weasley for his instigation of the new Muggle Protection Act. Lucius dared Dumbledore to prove it, and while Dumbledore had insufficient evidence to do so, he also cautioned him against future plots. It was then that Malfoy noticed his god-daughter Aquila, who was standing there looking completely filthy and entirely undignified. She admitted, under an unsettling and threatening look from Lucius, that she and Harry Potter had killed a hundred foot long Basilisk and that she was on the verge of passing out. Lucius caught her and Aquila got to visit the hospital wing and sleep in a bed next to Ginny. It was that night that they finally had a heart to heart. Aquila couldn't promise to be there for her over the summer, and Ginny couldn't promise to be there for Aquila, but they both knew that they had to try. Aquila knew that she was likely going to be in trouble with her parents for all of the stunts she pulled that year, including being sorted into Gryffindor, when she had set up a ruse with her cousin Draco to get her parents to believe that she was in Slytherin, and always had been. Magical Abilities and Skills * '''Transfiguration': Aquila was incredibly talented in Transfiguration. The summer between her first and her second year, she asked her parents if she could study under a tutor (with the intention of becoming an animagus). Her parents did not care what she did, and they hired a Professor from the Uagadou School of Magic (located in Uganda) to teach her. That summer, Aquila became skilled enough in Human Transfiguration to be successfully become an Animagus, a feat which was (although extremely dangerous), difficult to accomplish on one's own. Professor Babajide Akingbade's instruction proved paramount and she was able to complete the full transformation within a month, as she had already done some of the preparatory work on her own. He informed her that most students at Uagadou complete an animagus transformation by the age of fourteen, and Aquila's completion of the transformation at eleven is not relatively rare in Africa. However, in Europe, most wizards find no need of becoming an Animagus unless they require a method of stealth or deception, and minors who complete the transformation either do it in secret, or fail completely. * Wandless Magic: Aquila was born a relatively powerful witch, perhaps due to the fact that her brother Tarry was not. However, Aquila developed impressive control of her accidental magic at a young age, due to the need to convince her parents that her older brother could, in fact, perform magic. Aquila learned to harness pure and raw magic so that she could complete this task. She does better without a wand, but like the rest of her family, including that of Sirius Black, who was known to conjure manacles from nothing just after escaping Azkaban in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and Bellatrix Lestrange, who is famous for her learned practice of the Dark Arts, Aquila is a very formidable and powerful witch. That said, she can also be very dangerous around others if she happens to act before she thinks- her wandless magic, which comes out as an invisible force, has the potential to knock someone across the room, or tear monsters apart. Muggles would refer to this as a sort of psychokinetic ability, but wizards would refer to this as pushing out large forces of magic without a spell to focus the effects. It can be dangerous because no wizard would typically use their magic as a sort of brute force machine, and this usage of magic would usually fall under the category of accidental magic. However, Aquila learned to control it from a young age through deceiving her parents and allowing them to believe that her relatively controlled outbursts of magic was her brother Tarry’s uncontrolled accidental magic. Professor Akingbade additionally happened to inform her, when witnessing her practice, that most students from Uagadou do not use a wand anyway (as wands are primarily a European invention), and that Uagadou students prefer and are able to cast spells simply by pointing their fingers or through other types of hand gestures. Aquila found that to be incredibly intriguing. * Potions: In her first year, Aquila successfully brewed the Animagus Potion, a potion which is highly complex and time-consuming to brew, and with great consequences if done improperly. * Non-verbal magic: Aquila was able to non-verbally perform Human Transfiguration and defensive magic (Disarming and Stunning spells). Since non-verbal magic is very difficult, this is testament to her power and skill as a witch * Flying: Aquila developed a respectable talent for flying over the years, spending time with Draco in the countryside at Malfoy Manor. She had a childhood dream of becoming Seeker for her house team like Regulus did- even though she did not know him, her parents had tried to instill in her that he was a hero, a champion for their cause, and a precious child lost too soon. Etymology The name Aquila is the Latin and Romance languages word for eagle. Specifically, it refers to: Aquila (constellation), the astronomical constellation, the Eagle. However, she does not share many traits with an eagle, suggesting that her name was chosen for other reasons, mainly for its sound and for its existence as a constellation. The Newfoundland and the Albatross * Aquila's animagus form is a large, bear-like black dog. She most greatly resembles a Newfoundland dog, which is known for its calm and docile nature and its strength. They are highly loyal and make ideal working dogs. It is for this reason that this breed is known as "the gentle giant". It typically has a deep bark and is easy to train if started young. Newfoundlands are ideal companions in the world of therapy and are often referred to as the nanny dog. The breed was memorialized in "Nana", the beloved guardian dog in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. ** Aquila's animagus form could represent the maternal love she craves. However, it is her protective nature regarding her friends that was the reason for Aquila to seek her form: Maisie, whose mother abandoned her, and whose monthly transformations wear her down, needed comfort. ** Trivia: An unnamed Newfoundland is credited for saving Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. During his famous escape from exile on the island of Elba, rough seas knocked Napoleon overboard. A fisherman's dog jumped into the sea, and kept Napoleon afloat until he could reach safety. ** In the early 20th century, a dog that is thought to have been a Newfoundland saved 92 people who were on the SS Ethie which was wrecked off of the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland during a blizzard. The dog retrieved a rope thrown out into the turbulent waters by those on deck, and brought the rope to shore to people waiting on the beach. A breeches buoy was attached to the rope, and all those aboard the ship were able to get across to the shore including an infant in a mailbag. Wreckage of the ship can still be seen in Gros Morne National Park. E. J. Pratt's poem "Carlo", in the November 1920 issue of The Canadian Forum, commemorates this dog. * Aquila's Patronus is an Albatross. The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798). In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). Even when they are too thirsty to speak, the ship's crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame his action for the curse. The bird is placed on the sailor's neck by shipmates to show the guilt in killing it. Therefore, the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried as penance. ** Her brother Tarry was murdered, which could be regarded as the act that "curses" the House of Black, and therefore, in extant, her patronus is representative of her brother. The albatross could be interpreted as Tarry, now serving as his sister Aquila's spiritual protector. ** Fanon enjoys giving the Black family metaphors that have to do with water: and these stories are not baseless: Regulus Black drowned in a cave, and metaphors relating to water fit them well. 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